Talk:Don't Look Back/@comment-24435238-20150831032444/@comment-3575890-20150831103403
Derek, you're not dumb nor racist. Sometimes racism isn't so overt be as it may that it's still racism, and thus it may sail over the heads of those who aren't directly affected by it. I can very easily see your point of view based on your rhetoric that 'the person doesn't understand that they're promoting blackface, thus isn't intentionally being racist, the artist's motive for painting their skin black isn't racially-charged, the artist isn't trying to impersonate a POC individual, it's misguided artistic expression, etc, etc' but many instances of every day racism are unintentional. The lack of malicious intent doesn't make it any less offensive or inappropriate. Any act that's going to cause a person whom is frequently subjected to systematic oppression on the basis of their race, sex, sexual orientation, etc to feel offended or triggered is never okay, whether there is ill intent or not. While the artist's intention is not to portray himself as a POC individual, like the objective of blackface is, it is still characteristic of blackface as it is basically the same thing: slathering on dark paint to make the skin look darker. It promotes the idea that it's okay for white people to slather dark paint on their skin for whatever reason they might have, just like their ancestors once had to mock, humiliate, dehumanize and keep the black community "in their place" so as long as it fits within specified parameters. In this case, the suggestion is that it's okay because the intent is separate from the historical intent of blackface and is in the name of "artistic expression." But it's still not okay because now it's perpetuating the problematic idea that dark pigmented skin is a costume - as if light skin is normal skin tone and darker pigmented skin just paint that can be washed off at the end of the day to reveal porcelain white skin underneath. It's along the lines of white people painting their faces darker with intent to make themselves look like somebody of a different race from theirs because it conveys this attitude that something as simple as black paint/makeup is all anyone needs to step into the shoes of a dark-skinned individual for a temporary period of time, when in fact no Caucasian can ever do that. Not even the most educated white person will EVER understand what it is like to be black. They can paint their pale faces a dark pigment, but they will NEVER endure the experience that comes with the territory of dark skin because their "dark skin" is just paint/makeup that will never extend beyond a "fashion statement" they can wash off at the end of the day. It is offensive for white people to paint their bodies black, for whatever reason they may have, because it shows ignorance and apathy in respect to racially-charged strife. It's also suggesting that race is only skin color, which is oversimplifying the complexities of race and belittling black culture. I reiterate, blackface and cultural appropriation has become so much of the norm these days, because no white person can ever truly understand the full extent of the black community's plight. Not those who are educated, not those who are sympathetic, not those who have been subjected to racism themselves, not even those whom actually can pinpoint the subtlest of racism and put it on blast because until a white person experiences systematic racial oppression to the full extent that POC individuals experience it every day, which will never happen, they will never fully comprehend how racism impacts the every day lives of people of color. I am a white woman. I know what it's like to be oppressed on the daily on the basis of my sex and on a lower key note, even my sexuality. I have even been discriminated against for being white in one isolated instance, but I will never know what it is like to be oppressed for the color of my skin. No white person ever will.